Critters

  Not to make you jealous....but...it is 8pm in Los Angeles and my front door is wide open to the 70 degree weather outside. The almost full moon shines down on this city and the Santa Ana winds are blowing through the trees and somone's wind chimes make an occasional happy tinkle.

  It's the kind of night where you feel that anything can happen. And I've just pulled my weeks work from the tumbler.

Steel, silverfill, sterling and peruvian opal

Steel hoop, sterling, fine silver, shell and rhodochrosite

I have no idea what the heck I will do with either one.

Oh and that octopus is less that 2 inches!! His head part is only 1/2 inch.

Copper 3 Ways

  Last sea urchin for a while. Using coral beads.

In Bright:

Oxidized:

Polished oxidized:

Not a Sea Urchin

 
  Making sea urchin balls opened up many possibilities in my mind and I had to break with the ocean theme to make this woven copper drop.

  I only have two more days off and than I will be back at work and the work load waiting for me there will be a crush.

  I have so many wonderful wire ideas I want to explore. I see myself growing as an artist and that brings deep satisfaction. It's frustrating to have to constantly set it aside and take care of necessities and life problems:(

  January will be a pressing month with family events and a heavy work load. It may get slow again on the blog.

This weeks flurry of wire activity was really fun for me:))

  It was a great year in wire for me and I look forward to what will develop in 2012.

Another Sea Urchin

  I had no idea there was so much variety of design in a sea urchin.There is a wealth of creative inspiration in the uniqueness of each one.

  Also I am enjoying making squashy balls:))

This is steel, silver fill, gold plate over sterling, and gold plate over brass. 2.5Inch in diameter

Sea Urchin

  My first try at a sea urchin shell. It looks better in person because the eye does not pick up as many distracting details as the camera does.

  It's made of steel and silver fill wire with gold fill beads.

  I also wrapped a rock found in my driveway with steel wire. Very much a Lynne Merchant inspired design.

Sea Shells

  I'm completely out of the wire zone as I haven't made anything for about 5 weeks now.

I decided I wanted to make sea shells. A curious choice on my part since I have never been particularly drawn to them. But OK, that's what the muse wants.....that's what she gets:)

 I also bought some steel wire and worked with that for the first time. I think it makes a lovely shell

  These were challenging to make and I grew quite frustrated because the grace God put into the original shell spiral could not be equaled by me. Once I realized I could never reach so high a mark I was able to try one last time with more realistic expectations. To see the Masters work look here: http://naplesseashellcompany.com/turitella_sea_shells_seashells.html#seashells


There were lots of sad failures before I hit on something I could live with:

Christines Twining

  So far I have one brave taker to my offer to post your work to my blog. Thank you Christine!

  Christine has made some beautiful garden designs using twining. I am especially fond of her 'garden gate' concept. She made it for the musical challenge at the Jewelry Makers Forum and you can read more about it over here: http://jewelrymakers.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=challenges&action=display&thread=85

She has also worked a cuff. Isn't the overlay of leaves on top of the twining wonderful? I'm a sucker for bare wire paired with wrapped wire:)